G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are plasma membrane-spanning proteins that transmit information, in the form of chemical signals, from the outside of a cell to proteins on the inside. For example, when the GPCR β2 adrenergic receptor (βAR) binds epinephrine on the outside of a cell, it activates a GTP-binding protein (G-protein) on the inside. This initial transmission of “information” triggers a cascade of downstream signaling that leads to a variety of physiologic responses from the cell.

In 1970, Robert Lefkowitz published two articles describing the existence of GPCRs, and a decade later, he published a general mechanism of activation. The first high-resolution image of transmembrane signaling by a GPCR was published in 2011 by Lefkowitz’s former post-doc, Brian Kobilka.

Much of the Nobel Prize-winning research of Lefkowitz and Kobilka is represented in the CAS databases, with nearly 1,000 references to their journal articles since 1970. Examples of their most important published research include: